# The lost history of Seneca Village

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2020-02-03

brent-staples, central-park, history, manhattan, new-york-city, seneca-village, urbanism, video, vox-media

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[This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdsWYOZ8iqM&feature=youtu.be) is a fascinating short video (by Vox) about a former neighborhood in Manhattan known as [Seneca Village](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneca_Village). Today, its land forms part of Central Park.

Most of us would probably agree that building Central Park was both a good idea and a powerful example of the value of foresight.

But that doesn't mean that the area's pre-park history is something that should be forgotten. (Thanks for sending this along, [Jeremiah Shamess](https://twitter.com/JShamess).)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdsWYOZ8iqM&feature=youtu.be

If you'd like to learn more about Seneca Village, check out [this NY Times opinion piece](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/28/opinion/seneca-central-park-nyc.html) by Brent Staples. It's called, _The Death of the Black Utopia_.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/the-lost-history-of-seneca-village)*